Why the Best Leaders Don't Separate Mentorship From Execution

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Key Takeaways

Leadership starts with how you show up, not what you say.
Assumptions shrink people. Curiosity expands them.
Mentorship changes how you define success.

Most leadership advice focuses on what you should achieve. My most important leadership lessons came from those who invested in me and from those I chose to invest in. I didn’t learn them in a corner office or after a big win. I learned them through mentorship, both from those who guided me early and from the young leaders I’ve had the privilege to mentor through my nonprofit, Youth Champions.

Mentorship did more than improve my skills. It reshaped how I define success and how I develop young people. It also taught me to take action before everything feels certain. If you care about meaningful results, those shifts matter.

1. Credibility starts before you speak

The first leadership principle I learned came from my dad: never ask someone to do something you are not willing to do yourself.

That sounds basic until you see how often leaders break it. Teams watch how you work. They notice whether you step in when something needs doing, whether that means trash pickup, a late night or the unglamorous tasks no one wants to do. When you stay above the work, your standards start to feel performative. When you share the work, expectations carry credibility.

This is not about being a martyr or proving you can outwork everyone. It is about setting a tone every day. People decide whether to trust you before they decide whether to follow your plans. If your behavior and your direction do not match, trust erodes quickly. When they consistently align, ownership spreads, accountability rises and the goal becomes a shared mission.

2. Progress comes from persistence, not perfect timing

Another mentorship influence that shaped me was David Gold, the founder of the 99 Cents Only Stores. What stood out to me was how he thought of others. He was always trying new ideas, kept trying when they did not land, and then kept improving the ones that did.

That mindset changed how I think about execution. Many leaders procrastinate because they want certainty or ROI first. They wait for perfect timing. In reality, that hesitation creates stalled momentum, missed opportunities and team members are conditioned to play it safe.

Mentorship taught me to treat progress like a practice. You move, learn from the results, adjust and go again. You do not need reckless speed; you only need forward momentum. Great leaders build meaningful projects because they have a stronger relationship with iteration than with perfection. They stay curious. They separate ego from execution. They learn from their results.

This mindset also changes how you handle failure. If your first attempt has to be the final answer, you will definitely avoid risk. But if you expect learning, you will make better decisions faster because you will gather real feedback sooner.

3. Assumptions limit people, but curiosity expands them

One habit I had to unlearn was making assumptions about people, situations and who could “add value” to me. Earlier in my career, I occasionally wrote people off if I couldn’t see an immediate benefit in the conversation. In hindsight, that mindset narrowed my perspective and limited my growth.

One of my mentors taught me that we all operate only within the limits of what we’ve learned so far. When you grasp that concept, you stop approaching conversations as an exchange to “get something” and start seeing them as an opportunity to learn.

This shift in perspective is the heartbeat of Youth Champions. We’ve built the organization on the twin pillars of growth mindset and radical accountability. Our mission is to challenge young people to own their narrative, have the courage to ask for guidance and constantly look for ways to lift themselves and others. These aren’t just ‘youth development’ tools; they are core leadership requirements for people of all ages in all industries.

Mentorship is leverage, not charity

A misconception I often see, especially with entrepreneurs, is that mentorship is either a one-way gift you give or a transactional relationship you use. The truth is, mentorship is reciprocal, and its impact compounds over time.

My nonprofit is now almost a decade old, and I’ve spent the last nine years witnessing the ripple effect of our work firsthand. There is nothing quite like watching a young person graduate and thrive in their career, carrying forward everything they’ve learned. That long-term perspective has been one of my greatest teachers. It has shown me that mentoring is one of the most honest ways to lead. It requires you to get clear on what you believe and stay humble about what you still have to learn.

I also believe in what I call social leverage. When resources are limited, the most powerful thing you can do as a leader is to focus on leverage. You can choose to impact one person today, or you can build the systems and relationships that will eventually reach thousands of others. That level of impact requires significant upfront energy before results are visible.

To lead at that level, you can’t keep mentorship at a distance. Dive into it. Seek out the people and places that push your boundaries, because mentorship remains one of the fastest ways to sharpen your ability to learn and build sustained influence.